Improvement in turning edges of plates or metal sheets



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEo JN O. F. MORGAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSTGNOR TO HIMSELF AND GEO. W. WALKER.

IMPROVEMENT IN TURNING EDGES 0F PLATES OR METAL SHEETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 3S, l l5, dated April 7, 1863.

L0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. MORGAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Turning the Edges of Sheets or Plates of Metal or other Material; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view, and Fig. 2 a transverse section,of it. Fig. 3 is a transverse seetion of the machine, and represents the position of its parts after a sheet of metal may have had its edge turned by it, the said sheet being exhibited in blue at S.

The nature of my invention consists in the combination of a movable folder and platform with machinery for moving the platform toward, underneath, and beyond the folder while the latter is in the act of being turned for the purpose of turning the edge of a plate of metal; and my invention further consists in the application ofthe folder to the platformmoving mechanism by means or devices which will admit of the folder being moved or turned without at the same time creating any movement of the platform.

The principal object of my invention is to enable a sheet of metal, after its edge may have been turned, to be removed from the folder without the necessity of first turning the said sheet back and over and With the folder, as requires to be done with folding-machines provided with a stationary platform. When large sheets of metal are bent by such machines, the labor and time required to so turn them back are considerable,and are saved by the employment of my new or improved machine.

In the drawings, A denotes the frame of the machine, B being the folder, and C the platform.

The folder is to be constructed with a narrow slot or recess, a, for the reception of the end of a sheet of metal. This recess extends through the folder from end. to end, or thereabout, and has within it a thin bar or gage,

b, from which two projections or indicators, c c, extend upward, each passing through one of two grooves,d formed in the cap or upper part or plate, e, of the folder. This gage is provided with adj ustingscrews e' e', by which its distance from the inner edge of the folder may be varied as circumstances may require. The

folder should be supported by means of two cylindrical journals, f f, extending into bearings in the standards g g of the frame A. A gear or pinion, D, should be fitted on each of the journals f, and so as to be capable of being freely revolved thereon, except when coupled to the folder by means of a bolt or pin, l1., which projects from the said folder and into the side of the gear. Each gear or pinion D should be made to engage with one of two straight-toothed racks E E,resting on the bottom plate,h,of the frame A, and affixed to the twoends of the platform O, the whole being constructed in such manner that during the movement of the folder necessary to effect the required turning of an edge of a sheet of metal the platform will be caused to move backward, underneath, and so far beyondthe folder as to enable the sheet of metal to be pressed backward and out of the folder, or be separated therefrom, without the necessity of first being turned over with the folder through an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees, or thereabout.

In Fig. 2 the parts (via, the folder and the platform) are represented in their positions for the application of a sheet of metal to the folder, in which case the sheet' resting on the top of the platform should be pressed into the recess of the folder and up to the gage thereof, after which the folder should be turned over or revolved one hundred and eighty degrees, or thereabout. This movement of the folder will turn and bend that part of the sheet which may be within the folder over and toward the remainder of the sheet, the platform being caused in the meantime to move backward and from underneath the sheet, and so far beyond it as to allow the sheet to be readily separated from the folder by simply pressing the sheet backward or toward the platform. By means of the indicators c c the distance of the gage from the inner ledge of the folder may be determined, provided there may be a scale of divisions alongside of the slot through Which each indicator projects.

By unbolting the folder from its gears or pinions D D the'machinemay be used as an ordinary folding-machine, asin this case the folder,n While being revolved, will produce no motion of the platform. For short sheets or pieces of plate metal this Will-be found convenient, as there Will be no difficnltyin or cbj ection to revolving them with the holder when it maybe returned to place or be revolved back- Ward.

To revolve a long and heavy sheet with the folder after the latter may have bent down the edge of such sheet is a matter of much inconvenience and labor, all of which my invention Without creating in the meantime any move ment of the platform.

JOHN F. MORGAN. Witnesses:

F. P. HALE, Jr., R. H. EDDY. 

